Windows 12 delayed

Windows 12 has been shelved for a while. It was expected to be released this fall.

Instead, Windows 11 24H2 will be released this fall.

Windows 12 may not even be released in 2025.

I suspect that Microsoft wants to spread out major version maybe every [say] 5 years as they could of been supporting 3 Windows versions this fall if Windows 12 did come out.

For the OS share, Windows 10 still has about 67% with Windows 11 hovering at 28%.

RIP…..

Cortana

This past week, Microsoft had announced that they are finally killing of Cortana.

It’s about time.

Bug issue KB5012170 for all versions of Windows

As per Neowin, KB5012170: Security update for Secure Boot DBX may dump you into the Bitlocker recovery mode. KB5012170 applies to every currently supported of Windows.

Microsoft is looking at it for a fix.

Windows 11 released

At the beginning, when Windows 10 came out in 2015, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 would be the last Windows operating system.

They lied. 🙂

Windows 11 has been released today.

It basically “forks” Windows 10 going one way and Windows 11 going a different way.

First Windows 10:

It will continue to be supported until October 2025. Unsure if there will be many new features though. Microsoft will want to entice you to go to Windows 11.

Windows 10 21H2 is about to be released. Like the previous two “major” updates, it is a short installation that enables various new features [mostly not big].

Now Windows 11:

You will not get notified of upgrading to Windows 11 from Windows 10 if you are running a 32-bit version of Windows 10. Almost likely you don’t have this but I wanted to mention it.

If your computer is at least 4 years old, your computer probably won’t be able to upgrade to Windows 10. Part of the reason is extra security that has been added to newer systems [TPM 2.0, Secure Boot] and part of the reason is that Microsoft will only support newer processors.

If your system is 4 years and older, you will most likely be using Windows 10 until that support dies out or your computer dies.

[Side note: I have a top of the line processor but is 7 years old. Too old to upgrade in addition to the security issues.]

Mark the date: October 5th

This is the day Windows 11 will be released.

Those with new systems will get it first followed by older systems [that meet the new requirements].

If you don’t want to wait, download the ISO when available.

Windows 11 Reminder

As previously announced by Microsoft, Internet Explorer 11 will cease to get any further support as of June 15, 2022.

Note: If you work in a company, Internet Explorer support may still function for a while longer. This will depend on whether your companies have applications that rely on Internet Explorer and whether they allow the web browser to be used.

As of June 15, 2022, Internet Explorer will fail to open. Instead, Microsoft Edge [already installed with Windows 10 and the future Windows 11] will open.

However, Edge has an “Internet Explorer Mode”. When it detects that a site you are using is [more] compatible with Internet Explorer than Edge, it will use that mode for best compatibility.

Note: Edge is based on Google’s Chrome browser but the Chrome browser doesn’t have an “Internet Explorer Mode”. If a site works with the Chrome browser, it should work with Edge. If you switch from Chrome to Edge, Edge can import your bookmarks/favorites and other settings.

If you switch to Edge from Internet Explorer, your favorites and settings can be imported.

Windows 11 is coming

[May not be as blood as Game of Thrones!]

Yesterday, Microsoft announced that the next version of Windows – to be released in the fall – will not be called Windows 10, but Windows 11.

There has been hints of the naming for the last few weeks.

There are a number of new features, such as the Start menu can positioned either be in its familiar location or in the center. As well, familiar icons that you see in My computer or My Documents have been update as well as other numerous changes. Some Android applications may also be installed in Windows 11.

Windows 11 upgrade from Windows 10 will be free of charge. Windows 10 [with the latest build release semi-annually (for now)] are expected to be supported until mid-2025. There will be an updated Windows 10 build coming this fall called v21H2.

Microsoft Teams will now be included in the installation, replacing the Windows 10 version of Skype. Skype will be available on the Microsoft Store.

There are four major changes though:

• Monthly updates are expected to be up to 40% smaller than the current updates.
• Some processor that are older than 4 years old may not be supported.
• The end to the “old” 32-bit version of Windows. This shouldn’t be an issue to most users out there unless you have a cheap low end computer or one that could have been around since the early days of Windows 7 or before. [And in any case, they will have the next issue to figure out.]
• The biggest issue is for computers over 5 years old. There is a security technology called TPM 2.0. It is used to encrypt data on your computer and other features. Windows 11 requires TPM 2.0 [actually TPM 1.2 may work]. Already there are some enterprising people on the Internet who are figuring out ways to bypass this restriction. Most likely, this will require having the Windows 11 media to do any upgrade. This will also probably be an issue for any future major [yearly] updates.

As for what came with Windows 10:

• Various tools and applications that won’t be part of the installation but can be found on the updated Microsoft Store: 3D Viewer, OneNote [not the Office version], Paint 3D.
• Applications and options that are dead: Tablet, Timeline, Wallet, Math Input Panel, News & Interests [recently added but changed in Windows 11], My People.
• Cortana: Not enabled by default.
• Internet Explorer: Seems it will be disabled [can be enabled?] but not removed.

Information is subject to change.

Windows 11 is coming… Yes

Remember how, when Windows 10 came out, that Windows 10 builds [i.e. the RTM release and all those that came out up to at least including v21H1 just recently] would have ten years of support.

Well, that was sort of true.

Windows 11 [yes – eleven] will be released this fall. Whether or not it will be designated with build v21H2 is still to come.

Come to think of it, so is much of the release.

[Oh and it is just about 10 years from Windows 10 RTM to v21H1.]

I haven’t touched it, but there has been a leak of a build [unsure if by Microsoft to get a reaction or by someone else] and so far, the consensus is that it is basically Windows 10 with a modified Start menu, changes to the various icons used [i.e. folder, My Documents, etc.], and maybe some minor stuff.

And yet there are still quite a few remnants going back even before Windows 10. There is still the MMC application. Even during the OOBE {Out of Box Experience], at least one screen goes back to Windows Vista.

Of course, this build is early. Reports of some features not correctly or at all.

I would assume the upgrade will be free. Really I would figure this release would follow then current upgrade scheduling.

Microsoft is officially announcing the release at 11 AM EST [New York or Montreal time] on June 24th. Rumor has it there will be a mock funeral for Windows 10 in the presentation.

Oh here we go again. Windows 10 update issues

It never ends.

Users are reporting various issues with the Windows 10 updates released this past Tuesday for those running v1903, v1909 and v2004.

Some updates will not install or go into loops when trying to. Others are porting hardware detection issues, jump lists, and speech detection.

But easily the biggest issue is trying to install the updates.

KB4565351 for v1903/v1909 and KB4566782 for v2004. No information at these pages yet.

[Update: 2020/08/24]

It appears that Windows 10’s August 2020 cumulative updates could be crashing some computers (mostly Lenovo ThinkPad hardware) when Hyper-V, Intel virtualization or Windows Sandbox features are enabled.

Although hardware manufacturer not specified, some have reported slow boot-ups, performance issues, sluggish File Explorer and over all instability.

Microsoft kills SHA-1 digital signature support

This will blog post will apply primarily to Windows administrators.

If you still require to build a computer or virtual machine with and older unsupported operating system, you may have problems getting updates.

As of today, Microsoft has killed off the SHA-1 digital signatures for all unsupported operating systems [Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 and older].

For most, this isn’t an issue as you probably won’t be building any. However, if you do need to [for example, a server died], it will be an issue.

As Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2008 SP2 are still being supported by ESU [extended support updates where you have to pay], there is an update to fix the situation. However for anything older, there isn’t.

Should you try to check for updates on the older operating systems, you will receive one of the Windows Update error codes: 0x8024402c, 8024402c, 0x80072ee2 or 80072ee2.

All updates within the past 5-6 years already had the more secure SHA-2.

For more information see here.

Example of where SHA-1 shows up in a downloaded update.